The Dark Goddess of Sky High
by cheekybumbum
Summary: With an absent father and dressed in Docs and a leather jacket, Kali gives off a certain vibe. But is there more to this girl than what meets the eye?
1. Chapter 1

'Kali! Kali honey it's time to get up!'

As her mother's voice resonated through her head, Kali groaned and turned over wishing she could block the incessant voice from her brain. They'd only been in their new house a week but the first thing her mother had insisted on was the comm. devices were installed in every room.

And this was why all Kali could hear when she wanted to go back to sleep was her mother humming, singing to herself and occasionally calling her name to get her up.

'Kali if you don't get up for school right this minute I will drag you out of bed myself do you understand me! Your bus arrives in thirty minutes and you will not be late on your first day!'

Apparently her mother had upgraded the comm. devices to include video cameras as well because Kali was sure her mother could see her. She stuck her tongue out at the general direction of the voice and swung her legs out of bed.

After a quick shower she fell over some unpacked boxes before finding the ones that contained her favourite outfit. Hey, with a new school, you got to feel comfortable with what you're wearing, don't you?

So she pulled her oldest pair of ripped jeans, a Ramones t-shirt and her Docs out of the box and threw them on. She ran some wax through her black, floppy mohawk and fiddled with it until, at last, she was happy. She'd had it cut in at the beginning of the summer, very short and very punk but her mother had hated it and so now she was growing it out. She gave it one last flick and, on her way out of the room, grabbed the wrist and headband given to her by her last boyfriend from the West Coast.

'KAL -,' her mother stopped short of finishing what she was going to yell because Kali swung into the kitchen.

'Darling, you can't possibly wear that on your first day! What will everybody think?'

'Exactly what I want them to think Mom. It's fine, really,' she said, glancing at her mother while she devoured some toast.

'I'll be home when you get back, I want to hear all about your first day, so no dawdling on the way back, understand me?'

'Yes, Mom,' she said in a weary tone that had a slight humorous element to it. They did this drill every time she started a new school.

'And who knows, your father might be home to hear about it too,' her mother said in an overly bright manner.

'And pigs might fly, you never know,' Kali replied in a bitingly sarcastic tone. 'But I'm betting that we'll see airborne pork before Dad remembers that today is my first day at his old school.'

'Your Dad's just…busy, sweetheart, you know that.'

'Too busy to even come home?' she asked. 'I haven't seen him since we moved here and I doubt you have either.'

'What your dad's doing is important love.'

'And we're not?' she said in a bitter tone. 'I better go, wouldn't want to miss the bus.'

And with that she turned, pausing only to grab her bag and jacket and was out of the door before her mother could reply.

Kali walked furiously down the streets towards her bus stop. Her dad hadn't always been such a crappy parent. In fact, up until the move he'd been pretty normal. But now she hardly ever saw him. She doubted if he even knew today was her first day at Sky High.

Much as she hated to admit it, she was looking forward to going to this school. She'd been to a superhero school for her freshman and sophomore years, of course, but this was Sky High. It was legendary. Everyone who went there made something of themselves…good or bad.

She finally reached her stop just before a big yellow schoolbus pulled around the corner. She filed on behind Will Stronghold and Layla Dianthe. She knew who they were, how could anyone have missed what happened with Royal Pain just under a year ago?

But now they were sophomores and she was a junior and in spite of herself, she felt slightly superior to them. She may not have defeated a villain aged thirteen but she felt pretty confident in her power and she wasn't aware of anybody else who had it.

The bus touched down and Kali promptly staggered off and leaned against the side of the bus desperately trying not to throw up. She probably looked ridiculous already but she didn't want to add to the image. Finally she thought her legs would be strong enough to hold her and she followed the instructions sent to her when she'd been admitted to Sky High.

She followed a bunch of petrified freshmen up the steps and through the impressive front of the building into a gym where a man in tiny white shorts stood with a clipboard.

After some time he stopped doing whatever he was doing on the clipboard and opened his mouth. None of them expected what came out but what did actually managed to knock a couple of the tiny freshmen on the floor.

'Ok, freshmen and others I am Coach Boomer. I was Sonic Boom back in the day…ask your parents. This year Power Placement is slightly different to what you may or may not have heard about. Since the…incident with Royal Pain, it has been decided that all students should be aware of everyone's powers which is why the current students will be joining us shortly. Now, I see we have two sophomore students, two juniors and a senior also joining us today. You will go first so you can bond with your classmates over the no doubt, pathetic powers, of some of these freshmen.'

The door at the back of the room opened and the students already in the gym saw an awful lot of students standing outside, waiting to come in.

'Ok, sophomores and juniors on the left, seniors on the right. Come on, come on, and hurry it up! We do not have all day!'

The students hurried to their seats. Watching Power Placement was something new for them all and they were excited so see what the next class would be like.

The new sophomore students went first. One was a boy called Donar who could control and create storms. He made hero, as did Kelly who had blonde hair down to her waist and the biggest blue eyes that drew Boomer into a trance as he mildly ticked the hero box on his clipboard.

She got off the platform to applause from all the students, which seemed to bring Boomer back to earth. He stared around for a short moment before being reminded that he needed to carry on by a telepathic message from Medulla.

'Kali Thomas, you're up next.'

She made her way through the crowd, which parted like the Red Sea had and hopped up onto the platform.

'Power up then,' said Boomer impatiently. He was feeling slightly embarrassed that that Kelly girl had hypnotised him or something so he was irritable now.

Kali held out her hand and in it appeared what initially appeared to be a ball of black flame but the longer Boomer looked at it, the sadder and more depressed he became. In fact, he was almost on the brink of tears when he yelled for the car through in a choked voice.

As it fell on the bungee, Kali threw a fireball, a wave of fire and two streams of concentrated fire energy towards it.

'Hero,' Boomer sobbed. 'Go and sit with your classmates.'

He really wasn't enjoying this year's Power Placement.

A/N: Before I get any flames I would like to say that this character is based on someone I know. She is completely like this character and even dresses the same so don't flame me for a Mary-Sue that doesn't exist. This is not your typical story I promise.


	2. Chapter 2

Kali found a seat on the edge of a group of her classmates and endured the whispers and looks that went her way. She did want to make some friends, despite what people first thought of her but she just wanted to find out what these people were like before she tried engaging any of them in conversation.

So she ignored the whispers and watched the two seniors and freshmen go through Power Placement. She knew her power was pretty impressive and that was why people looked at her strangely. The black fire she created not only acted like any other fireball in existence but created sorrow; it sucked joy from people's hearts leaving them vulnerable to their attacker. Her grandmother had had this power, so strongly that she could see people's desires and the way into their hearts. Kali wasn't sure if this was something she wanted or not…people's hearts contained some dangerous stuff.

Looking around at her classmates she saw the usual types of people that had patrolled the corridors of her previous school. The freshmen who looked about ready to die they were so scared of what they could become if they crossed the wrong older classman; the sophomores who acted cocky and like they were all that because they were no longer the babies; the seniors who ruled the school and knew it and then there were the juniors, her classmates and those with whom she would spend 'the best years of her life'.

Examining the juniors she saw no one who jumped out at her as being remotely on her wavelength. Most of the girls were blonde, blue-eyed and decked head-to-toe in pink and white finished with pink and white converse. She hated people who latched onto stuff years late and then claimed that they discovered how cool this thing actually was.

Suddenly she became aware that someone was staring at her. There was no one she could see so she turned around and saw someone sitting at the back of the bleachers. A large, shadowy figure that she could barely make out through the darkness – the lights weren't working up there. Suddenly a small glow appeared as flames spouted from the tips of his fingers and she saw the face of this guy.

_Good Lord he was hot_, she thought but as the hand moved she caught a glimpse of his wrist and the flames that decorated it. She knew only of one person who had those and he was the reason… She shook her head, trying to displace the thoughts that had crept in and become rational. The person she knew with those marks was in jail and not likely to be in the bleachers of Sky High without someone noticing. So if he was there…then this must be…his son? And if that was the case, Kali was going to have nothing to do with this guy – her father spent enough time on that family for the both of them.

'JUNIORS!' bellowed Coach Boomer.

The chatter stopped instantly.

'Your first lesson after lunch is Power Perfection. Meet me here and we'll see what happened to you over the summer!'

They all trooped out to the cafeteria but once she'd got her food, Kali was unsure of where to sit. She hesitated at the front of the room, scanning the crowd for somewhere that she could sit; at least until she made a friend or two. Just then she was grabbed on the arm by a girl with waist-length brown hair, jeans and a band t-shirt on who dragged her over to the table she'd been sitting at with her friends.

'Hey! What the hell?' said Kali, flustered.

'I'm Sahara, this is Devon, Mary, James and Simon,' the girl said, pointing to the people sat around the table. 'We thought you looked lost and thought you might like to have lunch with us. I joined in sophomore year so I know it's hard to fit in, joining in the middle of stuff and everything.'

She said all of this in what appeared to be one breath and then beamed up at Kali. Kali shrugged her shoulders and sat down. She could do a lot worse and hey, at least she knew people now.

'So what powers do you guys have?' asked Kali curiously.

'I'm a telekinetic,' said Simon.

'I shapeshift,' said James.

'I can break things down into atoms,' said Mary.

'Technopath,' said Devon, 'It's not as cool now that Gwen wrecked it. Medulla watches me like a hawk.'

'And I control the weather,' finished Sahara. 'I haven't got it all down yet but I can do sun, rain, storms, that sort of thing.'

'What about you?' asked Devon. 'I get the whole fire thing but how did you make Boomer cry?' she said curiously.

'I don't know what it's called, or if it even has a name but the darkness does something to people and makes them vulnerable. My grandmother could see people's desires and the way into their hearts but I can't do that yet.'

'Wow,' said Simon, 'that's pretty cool.'

'Yeah but it only works if people look into the heart of the fire. Mind you, I can make walls of fire so then they don't really have a choice.'

'Kali? I don't mean to alarm you but you probably should know that Warren Peace is staring right at you,' said Mary in a low voice.

'Again?' she said in an irritated manner. 'That's the second time today!' She turned around and looked straight at him. He didn't look away.

'What is with him?' she asked.

'Well the last time he did that to anyone it was Will Stronghold and that was because he hated him. Do you know why he'd hate you?'

'No,' she said quickly and then regretted it immediately. Replying so fast was bound to arise suspicion but when no one said anything she guessed maybe not.

'So what's Power Perfection?' she asked curiously. They hadn't had anything like that at her old school.

'From what I've heard it's a class to hone your powers. Make them better, expand them, concentrate them, and control them, that sort of thing. So you can utilise them better in a fight,' said James.

'Well that seems like a good idea,' she said but when no one said anything she looked at them quizzically. 'So it's not a good thing?'

'No, it's not that. Its just Boomer hates our group of friends. We played a few tricks on him last year. He could never prove it was us but he knows and he knows that we know he knows. So he makes our life hell in every way possible. Sorry,' said Sahara.

'Well I'll just have to impress him so much that he stops hating on us!' Kali replied. 'It's kind of childish anyway – he really needs to get over it by now. He's a grown man and if he can't handle a few pranks then what is he doing wearing those shorts?'

They laughed and as the buzzer sounded for next period the cleared their trays and made their way back to the gym. They were greeted by Coach Boomer who pointed them in the direction of the changing rooms from which they emerged delightfully attired in orange, white and blue.

Kali looked at them disdainfully. Orange and blue were colours that she rarely wore and definitely not in the shocking shades picked out for the sports kit. She plucked at the clothes and stood at the back of the crowd with Sahara and everyone else from her lunch table and also Warren Peace, though he was a little way a way from them.

'Power Perfection is designed to help you perfect your powers. Throughout the year you will learn to do new things with your powers and have greater control over them. For me, that means I learnt how to make different levels of noise.'

'Though you'd never know it,' whispered Kali to her newfound friends who smiled.

'Is there something AMUSING back there that you'd like to share Miss Charman?'

'No Coach,' she called back.

'Well maybe you'd like to come up here and we'll see just how much control you have over your powers!'

Kali moved to the front. She didn't mind displaying her powers. She was proud of them and hey, if she made him cry again then it was worth it.

'Don't you remember Power Placement Coach? I think I displayed my power pretty well then.'

'You did display them well, yes. But I want to see you demonstrate control against someone who is attacking you. They're a lot more unpredictable than a falling lump of metal,' he said sarcastically.

'Ok, bring it on. Who have you got for me?' she asked. It was rare that she got to attack someone without getting into trouble for it.

Coach Boomer's eyes scanned the crowd before alighting on a particular individual standing at the back. 'Mr. Peace! If you would kindly join us up here.'

Warren sighed and made his way through his classmates. They were excited; two pyrotechnics had never fought each other in the years they could remember. And Kali didn't even know Warren was a pyro.

'Here are your suits,' said Boomer handing them a suit of attractive white pads that Kali supposed were to protect you from whatever hits you might take. A fighting arena rose from the floor and Kali and Warren made their way over to it while Boomer scaled the ladder to his umpire's chair.

Warren got there first and bent down the ropes for Kali.

'Ladies first,' he said indicating the way through.

She glared at him but stepped through anyway. Chivalry was the only thing he was going to have left by the time she was finished with him. They stepped to opposite corners of the ring.

'2 minutes, from when I blow my whistle,' called the Coach before sounding his whistle.

A black fireball appeared in the palm of Kali's hand just as regular fire engulfed Warren's hands. She looked at him, astonished to have met another pyrotechnic but soon got over it when two fireballs came hurtling towards her.

She ducked and threw her own at his knee but he dodged it neatly. Two more of Warren's fireballs came flying towards her and while she avoided one, the other caught her on the shoulder, grazing her, but she barely noticed.

Fireballs were flung both fast and furiously but the match progressed no further. Both of them were occasionally hurt but nothing serious. But Kali found herself actually wanting to hurt Warren Peace. His dad was the reason she hardly ever saw her father and whenever she looked at the dark-haired pyro, all she could see were the eyes of his father, the ones she'd seen in her dad's study countless times.

_Right, if I'm going to impress a man in tiny white shorts and defeat this guy, I'm going to have to 'perfect' my power,_ she thought.

Concentrating, she shot a stream of fire from her palm and immediately Warren shot one back. Apparently he had good control over his flames too. The streams met in the middle of the ring burning brightly as they melded and formed a light that was almost unbearable to look at.

'Is this all you got?' asked Warren through gritted teeth. 'Or are you going to get your dad to come and help you defeat me? After all, he's looking to defeat my dad and maybe it would help him to defeat his son.'

'Shut. Up. About. My. Dad,' Kali growled. 'Nobody talks about my father like that.'

And with that she brought her other hand forward and created another fireball which grew so large that it seemed to give off some sort of vibe. She could see Warren was breaking down but so was she. Holding onto this connection with him was exhausting but she was determined to make him bow down first.

Suddenly bolts of white light surged through the stream of fire from Warren to Kali and then the two were thrown apart. The buzzer had sounded long ago but the match had continued as the students and Coach Boomer had gaped at the display.

Sahara clambered up to the ring and checked on the two of them.

'Coach?' she called. 'We should get the nurse in here – they're both unconscious.'


	3. Chapter 3

'Uhhhh,' groaned Kali. She tried to sit up but her body was too heavy so she had to lie back down again.

'Don't try to move just yet dear,' said Nurse Spex as she bustled over to Kali's bed.

'What happened?' she asked blearily. Her head was spinning.

'Well you and Mr. Peace had a little confrontation that got slightly out of hand. You managed to knock each other unconscious. He's awake now though,' replied the Nurse checking Kali's eye movements.

'Oh yeah…' said Kali as she remembered the fight. 'So what time is it now?'

'It's almost the end of school. You are and Mr. Peace are fine to fly so if you just wait until the bell you can go to the busses together.'

'Um, no, if it's all the same I'd rather not wait. I need to get something from my locker,' she said as she desperately tried to avoid spending any time at all with Warren. She could feel him staring at her.

Everyone said he was batting for the good guys but blood is thicker than water and all that and if he knew her dad was looking for his dad then that was more than she did and she wanted some answers. If he wanted to help his dad then he might try to use her for something and she definitely didn't want to risk that. As soon as she was disconnected from the machines she grabbed her stuff and almost flew out of the ward before Warren had chance to say anything to her though she could feel his gaze burning into her back.

'Now what was all that about?' muttered Nurse Spex to herself.

Kali burst in the front door calling for her mother. On the bus ride…flight, she wasn't sure what is was, she had managed to work herself up into a near frenzy over her whole father issue.

'What is it dear?' asked her mother calmly walking in from the kitchen.

'Dad is out looking for Barron Battle!' exploded Kali.

The expression on her mother's face switched from mild to shocked and angry in a matter of seconds.

'Who told you that? And don't stand shouting it with the front door open! God knows who could overhear!' she hissed, dragging Kali into the front room and sitting her firmly down on the sofa.

'So it's true then?' she retorted angrily. 'And why couldn't _you_ tell me this?'

'Yes, it is true and the only reason I didn't tell you was that your father made me promise not to. What he's doing is very secret and very dangerous and possibly illegal! Can you see why he didn't want you to know? The less people the better.'

'And am I some stranger on the street? If he's doing stuff that could put me in danger I think I have a right to know! I'm his _daughter_ in case you'd forgotten! What if I was attacked in the street by one of Barron's henchmen? I wouldn't have a clue what was going on? Could you really live with that?' she shouted.

Her and her mother rarely rowed but when Kali got started it took a long while for it to burn out.

'And that I had to hear this from Barron Battle's son! My god if he knows why the hell couldn't I?'

Her mother took a step back, shocked. Her voice was concerned.

'Wait, you met Barron's son? When did this happen? Is that how you got knocked unconscious?'

'He's at Sky High mom. We had power perfection together. It got a little out of hand…it's nothing, I'm fine. Anyway,' she snapped, 'stop changing the subject! This isn't about a knock on the head. It's about you and dad lying to me. So why is he after Barron Battle then?'

'Kali, I can't tell you. I'm sorry darling but your dad and I decided it was for the best. If you ever were to get kidnapped, God forbid, you need to have no knowledge of what is going on. There are so many ways to tell if someone if lying these days that we didn't want you to have to lie and then be found out.'

Kali stared hard at her mother. Much as she hated to admit it, her mom had a point. Plausible deniability was always a good thing.

'So am I ever going to see Dad again?' she asked in an accusing manner.

'I don't know sweetie,' said her mom, her voice tired and full of emotion. 'I hope so, I just don't know when that will be. Even I haven't seen him since the move and I worry so much.' Tears leaked out from her eyes.

Kali hugged her mom. She didn't know what her dad was doing looking for Barron Battle but she guessed it must be something pretty serious to make her mom so upset. She never cried it seemed. She was always perky and if something went wrong she would be moody but she'd never cry. She didn't cry when a villain who wanted the location of the Ministry for Heroes killed her sidekick right in front of her. She dealt retribution on his ass but didn't cry about it.

'So, sweetie,' her mom said, brushing the tears from her face. 'How was the rest of your day?''

Kali laughed and sank back on the sofa. She was glad her mom was back to normal. After she filled her in on all the details they flicked on the tv and hopped channels until they came to the news.

'And in this special broadcast we bring you news of a battle raging downtown. It appears that Desperando, whose vigilanti antics have not gone unnoticed, is attacking the villain Aegean in his latest assault since Monday. We join Dave in the helicopter to tell us more…'

Kali stared at the screen for a moment and then switched it off. The silence was oppressive.

'Mom, is that Dad?' she asked, not quite daring to believe what she was seeing. Her dad had never sought out villains unnecessarily. He'd gone when he was called for, like every superhero, but to go out and find them in some crazy kamikaze style was not him.

'Yes, that is your father. Never have I been so grateful that you don't watch the news. He's been on every day since we moved here attacking these villains almost randomly it seems.'

'But it probably isn't random. Dad is too logical to just attack villains randomly in the hope of finding Barron Battle. You should know that,' said Kali.

'I thought I did know that but it seems I don't even know your father anymore. He's a completely different person. Agitated, excitable, not the collected man I once knew.'

'Mom…'said Kali, 'isn't Barron Battle in jail anyway? Why is Dad out looking for him when everyone knows he's in Maxville Penitentiary for a good many years?'

'I don't know, Kali. I don't know anything anymore and I would really appreciate it if you stopped asking questions now. My head is killing me and I need to put dinner on,' replied her mother, getting up from the sofa.

'Mom! I think this is slightly more important than whatever we're eating for dinner! We need to talk about this!' shouted Kali, outraged.

'Not right now, sweetie. If you can find your father, ask him these questions. I can't tell you any more.'

And with that her mother wandered back into the kitchen, leaving an incensed Kali in her lounge, fuming at her mother, father and Warren Peace. Why does he know things she doesn't when she is _clearly_ one of the good guys!

_Right,_ she thought, _if no one is going to tell me what is going on around here, I'm going to find out for myself._

And with that she stomped upstairs and opened up her laptop. Never had she been so grateful for the Internet. It didn't take long to find the names of the villains her dad had attacked recently and when she searched them in the Hero/Villain database she found something that made all the blood drain from her face…

A/N: lol evil author I know but hopefully you forgive me for not updating! But please review!


	4. Chapter 4

Kali stared at the computer some more. She was confused. She knew her dad hated Barron Battle but what had he ever done to their family?

This was what she saw:

'Barron Battle posed a great threat to the safety of Maxville in the late 1970s and the duration of the 1980s. During this time he had an inner circle of villains to whom he told everything and with whom he shared everything. These ten villains were:

Krekin (dead)

Dare (dead)

Agoria (incarcerated)

Aegean (whereabouts unknown)

Destructor (whereabouts unknown)

Ivan (whereabouts unknown)

Sky (whereabouts unknown)

Bellum (whereabouts unknown)

Lux (whereabouts unknown)

Nox (whereabouts unknown)'

She checked and re-checked the names she had inputted against the ones on the screen in front of her. Why? Why was her dad doing this?

She scrolled down through the article further.

'Barron Battle has been incarcerated in the Maxville Penitentiary for Villains since 1991 after the Commander received an anonymous call. There he discovered an unconscious Barron Battle alongside the body of Selena Charman, a senior at Sky High and brother of Xannon Charman.

Xannon and his family moved to California after the terrible murder but are now back in Maxville where Xannon is for no apparent reason attacking the former members of Barron Battle's inner circle. Although we are grateful for his contribution to the safety of Maxville and it's inhabitants, we at the Hero Command Centre are anxious for his well-being and urge anyone who sees him to stay away and contact us.'

Kali's jaw went slack. Barron Battle had killed her dad's sister? And now, fifteen years later her was attacking these villains for no apparent reason? This didn't make sense. She sent the article to print and glared angrily at the printer for being so slow. She marched into the kitchen where her mother was chopping vegetables and confronted her again.

'What is dad doing?' she demanded angrily.

'Kali, we already had this discussion. I don't know what he's doing, why he's doing it or when he's going to be home,' said her mother steadily not looking up from the chopping board.

'Well you're obviously not as clever as I thought. Because I just looked up some stuff on the Internet and I know what dad's doing. Why didn't you tell me dad had a sister? Or for that matter that Barron Battle killed that sister? Trying to keep me protected? From what?' she yelled.

'Kali that is enough! Yes I did know about your father's sister – how could I not? And I also knew what he was up to and whom he is capturing. But I don't know why – this move was so sudden. He didn't give a proper explanation and he asked for the transfer to here. And I didn't tell you because I didn't know what to tell you! I guess I was afraid you would do something stupid – try and find your father, I don't know but I thought it was best for all of us if you didn't know!' her mother shouted.

'Well I guess that's over now!' Kali screamed back and before she knew it she had thrown a fireball at her mother.

Her mother ducked and threw a minor fireball at Kali's feet. She was powerful enough to kill Kali but she obviously didn't want to do that, she just wanted to scare her daughter out of these hysterics. Reason wasn't going to work, water would make her more angry probably. So Kairos decided to scare her daughter and rained mini fireballs at her feet while Kali threw fireballs of her own at her mother, most of which she dodged.

They had never had a fight like this. There had been shouting sure but this time Kali didn't know what she would do next. She had always been in control of herself and her powers. She was hurt that she'd been lied to, been kept in the dark, treated as a child. She'd had to leave her friends and her boyfriend for what? So her dad could go on some revenge trip fifteen years too late?

Her mother's fireballs were scorching the sides of her boots but Kali was too angry to notice. She threw more and more fireballs until she was exhausted. She had never used her power so much all at once. She didn't know heroes got tired.

'Kali? Are you finished now?' asked her mother.

Kali nodded and sank to the floor, all her rage spent and now all she wanted to do was sleep.

'Well then you can help me to finish preparing dinner and then you can scrub these scorch marks off the floor. You're not getting out of this without punishment young lady if that's what you were thinking.'

Kali nodded glumly, knowing that she was beaten. She didn't like it but she was too tired to argue and this was her mother. No one crossed her without some sort of punishment and Kali it was grateful it wasn't cleaning out the gutters of her house and the neighbours'…all along the street. She'd had to do that once when her mom had found her with a boy in her room. That had been a pretty bad day.

-

The next day as the alarm blared Kali woke up sore and tired. She was not in the mood to go to school but dragged her legs out of bed anyway.

She was half way down the stairs when she heard her mom yell. Grumpily she sloped into the kitchen and poured herself some coffee. She hadn't finished scrubbing away the scorch marks until almost midnight.

'Now Kali, I'm asking you as your mother to please not do anything dangerous or stupid or well…' she trailed off.

'Me-like?' Kali supplied.

'Yes. Now you may know why your dad is doing what he is but please don't do anything about it.'

'Well what is someone picks on me for what dad's doing?' she asked.

'It's a school for the children of heroes, Kali. I can't imagine anyone would have a problem with your father capturing villains.'

'I can think of one,' she muttered before grabbing some toast and heading out of the door.

She scuffed her shoes on the pavement as she walked to the bus stop happily munching on her toast. Even though the day had started out badly, it seemed to be picking up. The sun was shining and she leaned on a warm wall waiting for the bus to arrive.

Will and Layla strolled up behind her discussing the latest in hero news.

'So Aegean is really dead?' asked Layla.

'Apparently,' said Will. 'It's a great achievement for the hero community. Aegean was Barron Battle's right hand man – he knew everything Barron did. They even went to school together, so Dad says.'

'But why do you think he's doing it? Going after all those villains?' queried Layla.

'I don't know – it's weird. Dad says the Command Centre can't get in touch with him – maybe he's gone rogue,' replied Will.

At this Kali spun round.

'Listen, if you're going to talk about my dad I'd rather you did it out of my hearing. Or preferably not at all,' she snapped.

They backed down and were silent pretty quickly. Strangers didn't usually intimidate them but this girl was different and seemed to exude something that they didn't want to mess with.

Luckily the bus came right at this moment and they all piled on. Kali found a seat near the back and slumped down in it. As the driver trundled round the rest of the streets picking up kids he had the radio on in the background. Then Kali heard something that made her sit upright in her seat.

'Quiet!' she yelled and all the kids fell silent, shocked by this sudden outburst and all that could be heard was the report from the newsreader on the radio.

'Breaking news on the whereabouts and activities of Desperado. We have just learned that he has killed the villain Aegean in a battle that lasted throughout the night and finished at the base of the Maxville mountain range. There is no sign of Desperado currently even though the Hero Command Centre is desperate to get in touch with him. Once again, members of the hero community are urged not to approach this hero as he may be compromised. Aegean was the right hand man of Barron Battle who is currently incarcerated in Maxville Penitentiary serving a quadruple life sentence.'

Kali sat back down in her seat, relieved that this wasn't a report of her father's capture or even worse, his death. The driver tentatively opened the doors to let the final students on the bus who had been stood outside the bus for the past five minutes. The kids got on and, in silence, the bus took off towards Sky High.

-

In Maxville Penitentiary Barron Battle sat down to eat his breakfast accompanied by his usual newspaper but this morning the headline made him throw his food across the room.

'AEGEAN DEAD – HOW MANY MORE WILL DIE IN VIGILANTI ATTACKS?' screamed the headline.

He wasn't surprised to receive a visit from one of his old friends, Destructor, that morning as soon as visiting hours began. Even though any visits made to Barron Battle were closely supervised, Barron knew he had to take a great risk. He hoped the guards couldn't decipher his code – they looked quite stupid. This was a code he had managed to set up before his arrest so that if ever the occasion arose, his plan could be put into action almost immediately without arousing suspicion.

Destructor entered the room.

'Ciao!' cried Barron.

He saw a look of recognition flit across his friend's face and breathed a sigh of relief. Everything would fall into place, just as he had hoped.


End file.
